Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

“ EQUALITY OF MANKIND AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF ISLAM Islam is the religion of the Unity of God and the equality of mankind. Lineage, riches, and family honours are accidental things ; virtue and the service of humanity are the matters of real merit. Distinctions of colour, race, and creed are unknown in the the ranks of Islam. All mankind is of one family, and Islam has succeeded in welding the black and white into one fraternal whole. ”

“ MAY the Lord of all nations bring to an end this horrible Armageddon, and from its ashes work out a universal and everlasting peace ; not an armed peace as we had before, or a temporary armistice to enable the devil of scientific barbarism to gather force again to extirpate humanity and to devastate the world, but a peace which will consist in the negation of all those sordid and selfish principles of life which from time to time have caused the unsheathing of the sword in the past history of the world. ”

“ There is, as far as one can see, no class in Islam which bids for temporal power. The grandeur of the religion is uninfluenced by any such sordid considerations. Every true Muslim looks to a reward which is as far above mere mundane advantages and riches as the light of the sun is above that of the ignis fatuus. I donot myself think that Islam has anything to fear from outside attacks, or even from the unworthy misrepresentations of which I have so frequently complained, for these will fade away. ”

“ We always tender our gratitude to some intelligent being who is the maker or supplier of what adds to our happiness. Whom should we look to for showing our gratitude if we have been benefited by all around us ? To be grateful is human, to find an object to whom to express our gratitude is natural. Should we praise dumb nature and give our thanks to inanimate matter ? We should be untrue to our very nature if we did so. We do need some intelligent being who should claim our admiration and gratitude. ”

“ One fails even to imagine the horror of that cruel vandalism which knows no distinction between the military and the civilian, which makes no distinction between the battlefield or the hospital whether on land or on sea, which demolishes even the houses of God, and brings those harmless souls to a sudden annihilation who on their penitent knees in a religious house are imploring the loving Father in Heaven to put an end to this manifestation of the devilry. ”

“ For how utterly impossible it becomes for a man to acquire by foul means what he would cheerfully give up for the service of others, though his own, by all laws of justice and equity! Here is the way how Islam meets and provides for the case. It is quite admissible for one to eat and drink according to his means, but when we see that this same eating and drinking is given up for some time by a man through fear of nobody except for the love of God, then certainly it would be too hard for him to even over-indulge in it under ordinary circumstances. ”

“ I have always looked upon Islam as fitted for the whole of the human race and for all times, and I have thought that the spirit of the great Faith which we profess with so much delight and happiness soars far above petty conventionalities. Moses and Jesus were for the Jews, but Islam is for Humanity without any distinction as to race or climate, and it is this which, in my humble opinion, will make the reasonable teachings of Muhammad prevail in the end. ”

“ Rabbul Alimin the Creator, the Provider, the Sustainer, and the Upbringer of all the worlds, of all the time and ages, and of all the races and nations, Whose bounties and gifts makes no distinction between race and race and come to every one ; Who in His dispensation acts as Rahman, the Beneficent Lord, whose benevolence looks to the needs of every one, even before the need comes into existence. Does not every atom in the universe bear eloquent testimony to these His two grand attributes ? ”

“ What impressed me most was the fact that the Khwaja Sahib is being seriously handicapped in his work, first by lack of funds, and secondly, by want of fellow-workers. For a great and rich community like the Muslim, it is not impossible to afford him relief in both ways. Look at the sacrifice he has undertaken! Humanly speaking, if he had continued his practice at the Bar, he would have wealth and position in life in abundance. It is, therefore, but right that his Muslim brethren should help him most generously in his work in the West for the propagation of Islam. ”

“ Does not Nature follow a prescribed course? Does not the law govern matter ? Had its evolution been haphazard, disorderly and unsystematic, one could argue in favour of adaptation in the working of Nature, with the law merely as its sequel. But science always finds system, order and regularity as the governing principles in the whole universe, and her discoveries are only discoveries of rales and regulations prescribed to govern matter. ”

“ We should find that the real aim of all wars and international rivalries lies in the motive of the rapacity of one to dispossess the other of a tempting prize, which may be a large piece of unexploited land, some trading interest, or any other similar object. How ever insignificant this source of temptation, the devastation and bloodshed which results from them is often appalling. Consequently the first concern of an institution aiming at the establishment of peace in the world should, in the first place, be to attempt most seriously to solve this problem of "thine and mine." ”

“ Why, then, make a belief in them the most important foundation-stone in the Christian belief? Why allow such figments of paganism to be held up as "necessary to salvation"? I venture to say that if one could probe into the innermost thoughts of any congregation in any church one would find a very small percentage having faith in the truth of the words uttered by the lips. The parson, being an educated man, would hardly ever be found with a true belief that the Almighty and Merciful was daily dispensing injustice with the lavish hand suggested by the words of the Christian Creed. ”

“ Everything possesses a tendency to evolve. So does man, but he owns something not possessed by the others. It is his power of discretion. This gives him a superiority over others. But it also may act to his disadvantage, if not properly directed. Hence the need of guidance ; and who could be a better guide than the Creator Himself? He alone knows the true use of created things and the right way to use them.
The tale of Adam, as given in the Book of Genesis, is more or less of a nursery character. It, no doubt, appeals to human fancy, but that of an infantile character. ”

“ Fighting, to satisfy the hankering after land or property belonging to others, has been repeatedly condemned in the Qur-án. But these motives have always induced fighting in the world from the very beginning; even to-day the same hankering makes civilized nations covetous of others. They may engineer various schemes and come with plausible pretexts, but cupidity and usurpation is at the bottom of all their movements. Islam, however, forbids all fighting for such objects. It allows war only under the same conditions for which the Creator endowed us with a martial spirit. ”

“ Our whole life is spent in securing means to gratify our natural requirements. All that we call civilization solely sprang from men's efforts in this direction. To secure happiness and to avert pain is the great problem of life. But is not proper satisfaction of our natural desires the climax of pleasure? Is not an ungratified need a great misery ? We cannot ignore the existence of two things in Nature: our needs and the existence of means in the universe to satisfy them. ”

“ War, famine, plague and pestilence ending in death, more than anything else, force the question of the Great Unknown, and of the Region Beyond, even on the most reckless, the most selfish and the most callous of human souls. ”

“ We simply want a reclamation, and not annihilation. Thus you have acted as a true image of Rabb, Rahman, and Malik, no doubt within a limited area. Extend these limits for the exercise of these Divine morals to those who live beyond the pale of those who are near and dear to you ; and this demand is not an impossibility. All this you do every day when you are inspired with a strong sense of patriotism. Your earnings do go to the nourishment, help, and need of those who can legitimately claim the charity of your patriotism ; and this war at least has been in some sense a blessing. ”

“ Most of the strength of Islam lies in the knowledge that God is ever near—nearer, as has been said, than our jugular vein; it is the very spirit of the Faith. Call it madness, call it fanaticism, or what you will, the fact of the real Presence of God is the very essence of the creed of the faithful followers of the Holy Prophet, and it is the chief reason why they have no fear of death or hell, which hold out such terrors to many whose beliefs are of a more complicated and less convincing character. ”

“ A Muslim has to submit to the will of the Most High, and he must go to all His messengers wherever they may be to accept His revelation. Do not think that any man or any tribe or any race is a chosen one of God. All are equally His children. If my Allah knows no distinction in dispensing physical sustenance, He is more impartial in dispensing spiritual nourishment. Go to all these prophets, again I say, and you have the true gospel of life which can only save humanity from this demon of selfishness. ”